The Mexican firm markets its equipment in 29 Latin American countries and advances its arrival in Asia and Africa.
Industrial Ochoa, from Mexico, is reinforcing efforts to continue and outline the new projects it has in the framework of the COVID 19 pandemic, according to the authorities of the same. This company, founded in 1909, operates in several countries on different continents, and from the state of Michoacán, equipment and machines for the manufacture and repair of LPG and bulk cylinders come out, as well as for other industrial branches.
To find out how the LPG industry is doing from the perspective of a global supplier, we spoke with the engineer Paulo Ochoa León, International Commercial Manager. The marketing of the equipment in 29 Latin American markets and the advanced negotiations in Africa (Tanzania and Ethiopia) and Asia (Thailand and Bangladesh) go through his hands.
In the international market, a contraction in demand was felt.
However, since May signs of reactivation were seen,
a little earlier than the Mexican market.Ing. Paulo Ochoa
How is the internal demand in Mexico?
In December last year, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, no negative effect on domestic demand was felt. Only in February, when the disease became a pandemic, did companies begin to adopt preventive measures due to uncertainty and due to the quarantine established by the government in March. Thus came the postponement of planned investments by clients. In this sense, it should be clarified that the impact of the downturn in the economy was more noticeable in companies with a high dependence on LP gas consumption in the industrial sector, while customers dedicated to domestic consumption have another vision because consumption increased in 30%, according to what they tell us.
In the middle of the year, in the month of June, the companies once again showed interest and the projects that were pending were resumed, resulting in a reactivation of demand at the beginning of July. There are still some who decided to postpone any type of investment for another year.
As regards foreign demand, your foreign trade, how is it developing?
In the international market, a contraction in demand was felt. However, since May signs of recovery were seen, a little before the Mexican market. The projects in the Asian market were the first to resume, in Thailand and Bangladesh; then in America, where we operate in 29 countries, and finally in the African market, mainly Ethiopia and Tanzania.
How do you see yourself in the post-pandemic, with new products or projects?
Despite the pandemic, the company was operating with all the security measures efficiently and without delay to never lose the continuity of the projects in production and to comply with the delivery times established for the clients, which allowed receiving the projects. that had been paused without any difficulty.
With the pandemic, many projects that were ready to be shipped were postponed due to the changes caused in logistics, borders, customer plants, among others, for which support was provided with the storage of equipment until they were ready to receive it, while some They quickly requested the shipment to others, the merchandise was kept even for a few months. One of the strategies after the appearance of COVID-19 is the integration and development of automated systems for daily operations with the intention of reducing the impact caused by this type of situation, addressing the need to work with social distancing and being prepared for future contingencies.
